Development on the VIA KMS driver hasn't stalled, but it's just been very slow. There continues to be new VIA KMS commits for the branched kernel where the development has been happening, but this hardware driver is being worked on basically by a lone individual. James Simmons has been the one to work on the VIA KMS support and he's been pretty much doing all of this open-source VIA work alone.

Here's to hoping that we finally see VIA kernel mode-setting support in 2013... But based upon this current development pace, it's unlikely we will ever see a suitable Gallium3D driver for open-source VIA OpenGL acceleration before all of VIA's hardware becomes extinct.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated testing software. He can be followed via Twitter and Google+ or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.